Dear Deaconess Community, As November approaches, recent victories remind us that Missourians have the power to make historic change, and we have reason to believe we can do it again. In August, voters overwhelmingly defeated Amendments 4 and 5, protecting the citizen initiative process and rejecting a proposal to eliminate the state income tax and expand sales taxes. More than …
As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, we should be asking more than whether our democracy has endured. We should be asking whether people still have meaningful ways to shape the decisions that govern their lives. In Missouri, two constitutional amendments on the August ballot would weaken that power. Amendment 4 would make it substantially harder for voters to …
This article was originally published by Newsweek Each year on June 19, we commemorate Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the end of slavery. Their announcement was directed to people who had remained enslaved more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued. This is a story of freedom delayed …
Deaconess Community, Voting is the linchpin of our democracy. But as the nation nears its 250th birthday, it is appropriate to question not only the strength of the franchise, but whether we are now living in an illusion of democracy itself. To assess democracy in this moment without the benefit of a spiritual gaze is to become discouraged. Last month, …